Gas holder



July 15 '1924. 1,501,267

` A. F. BRIDGE GAS HOLDER Filed Dec. "7. 1921 Patented July l5, i924. i

ARTHUR F. BRIDGE, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR OFONE-FOURTH TOMORETON R. THOMPSON AND ONE-FGURTI-I TO FRANKLIN S. WADE, BOTH OFLOSANGELES, CALIFORNIA.'

GAS kHOLDER.

Application. led December 7, y1921. Serial No. 520,533.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, ARTHUR F. BRIDGE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles, 5 State ofCalifornia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in GasI-Iolders, of which the following is a speciiication. y rlhis inventionrelates to gas holders of the general type referred to in my Letters lPatent No. 1,426,145, issued August 15th, 1922, for gas holders. In saidpatent I explain a type of holder wherein the gas, upon being pumpedinto the gas chamber, displaces water therefrom into an upper l chamberthrough a connecting pipe that opens into the lower chamber near itsbottom. In such an arrangement the two chambers are of substantiallyequal size, the Vupper chamber being large enough to hold all of thewater which, when the gas holder is empty, completely lls the lowerchamber.

The present invention has to do with improvements upon the gas holdershown in f said copending application; and the general object of thepresent invention is to reduce the total size of the gas holders, inproportion to its gas capacity. In the device of said copendingapplication the holder must be of a total capacity (both for gas andwater) approximately twice the capaccity for gas. In accordance with thepresent invention I provide, instead of a single gas chamber, aplurality of gas chambers, and provide but a single water chamber forall the gas chambers; so that, by making a gas holder with say, threegas chambers and one water chamber, it is only necessary to have a waterchamber that is approximately one-quarter, or a little more, the size ofthe complete holder. Of course, by increasing the number of gas chambersfurther, even this proportion may be reduced. Theoretically, there is nolimit to the number of chambers into which any given holdermay besubdivided, and therefore no-theoretical limit to the number of gaschambers that may be served by one water chamber; but, of course, inpractice there is a' most economical number of gas chambers which maybe'used. i

The broad feature -of the invention-that is of )using la plurality ofgas chambers with a single water chamber'is susceptible of use in twoldilferent manners. For instance, gas may be stored in the several tercommento these two applications aref contained in this presentapplication.

The invention will now be best understood from the following detailed'description of a preferred specific form of apparatus that embodies theinvention, reference for this purpose being had to the accompanyingdrawings, in which- The single figure is a diagrammatic view in verticalsection illustrating the holder and yits charging and dischargingsystem.

Iti will be understood of course that in the kaccompanying drawings, andin this specification, I explain only the simple elements of the holder;it being unnecessary to enter into details as Yto construction of thewalls and partitions of the holder, and their staying or supportingagainst pressure, or to enter into details or construction of valves andregulators, as such details may be supplied by those skilled in the art.y

In the drawing I show a suitable tank structure, say actank constructedofsteel. The details of this construction need not here be illustratedor described. This tank structure isl divided by partitions l0, 1l andl2 into three gas holding chambers 13, 14 and l5, and one water holdingchamber 16. The partitions may be braced or stayed in any suitablemanner,not necessary to illustrate herein. It will be understood thatthe holder may be divided into any suitable manner of gas chambers, notnecessarily being limited to the number shown. Communication for thepassage of water from one chamber to the next is provided by suitablepipes communicating with thebottoms of the respective chamber; and thismay be preferably provided by pipes 17, 17a and 17b inside the chambersin communication at their bottoms with the bottom of one chamber and incommunication with the chamber immediately above. A gas line 18communicates with the top of chamber 13, a gas IUD .The gas deliverypipe is indicated at 23 (provided with a check valve 24 and a pressureregulator R2) and pipe 18'communicates with outlet pipe 23 through acheck valve 24 and back pressure regulator R3. Pipe. 19 also similarlycommunicates with pipe 23 through a check valve 25 andA back pressureregulator R4; while pipe 2O communicates with outlet pipe 23 through acheck valve 26 it not 'being necessary that the pipe 2O have abackpressure regulator. Regulator R2 is set to take ofi1 gas down to theminimum pressure produced by the minimumv water head and to deliver thegas at the required constant distribution pressure.

In using a gas holder of this type, water is iirst put into the holderin sutiicient quantity to completely iill the lower chamber 13 and tillenough of the next chamber 14, suiiicie'nt to maintainy a head above thepartition 10, equal to the minimumpressure atY which it is desired towithdraw the last quantity of gas from each one of the chambers. Thus,the holder carries somewhat more water than the capacity of each one ofthe gas chambers, and the water Chamber 16, to hold this water,'must bemade somewhat larger than each one of the gas chambers. Gas is fed intothe holder through the pipes 21 and 18, the gas passing into the upperpart of chamber 13,displacing the water, and pressing it up through pipe17 into chamber 14. This goes on until chamber 13 is full of gas at apressure equal to the head of water on the chamberthe water level thenstanding approximately at the line designated Ll rin chamber 15. Thenthe gas rbegins to bubble up through the water that remains standing inthe lower pipe 17 and 'bubblesup through the body ot water which thenfills chamber 14, gradually displaces that water, forcing it down andforcing it out and upwardly through the pipe 17n up into chamber` 15.Vhen this chamber has been completely iilled with gas, then t-he waterlevel stands' as indicated at L2, and then the gas begins bubbling upthrough the water' standing in pipe 17a'andchamber 15 is thenfilled,displacing the water completely up into water chamber 16, the pipe 17bthen remaining full Vof water. When the holder isfull of gas,` thepressure on upperv gas chamber 15 is of course equal to the head ofwater between the level L3 and the bottom of pipe 17h. The pressure otgas inchamber 14 is greater than that on the gas in chamber 15,` thedii'erence being the head of water standing in pipe 17a; likewisey thepressure on the gas in lowermost chamber 13 is` greater than that inchamber 14, the difference being` represented by the column of water inpipe 17. lt will 'be noted that, as the. iilling of the holder goes on,the pressure on the gas in each one of the lower chambers increases upto the maximum. For instance, as the water is forced higher and higher,the pressure on the gas in chamber 13 increases, Gas is fed to theholder under a pressure sufficient to till the holder at such maximumpressure.

Now, inv discharging thel holder, the pressure regulator R2 is set totake oli' gas at the minimum pressure; and this minimum pressure is apressure which stands on the gas in any one chamber at the time the lastof the gas is being taken out of that chamber. For instance, thatminimumA pressure is the pressure which is on the gas in chamber 15 atthe time the water level has fallen approximately to the level indicatedat L2 in chamber 16, and the last of the gas is being taken out ofcompartment 15. That pressure is the hydrostatic head of the water atlevel L2 above partition 1 2.

The regulators at R3 and R* are back-pres sure regulators; and Rf1 isset only to open when the pressure in pipe 19 has fallen to thatproduced by the static head on chamber 14 with the water level at L2;and R3 is set likewise to open when the water level reaches L1.Consequently, the first withdrawal of gas will of course be from chamber15. This withdrawal of gas will go on until all of the gas is withdrawnfrom chamber 15; and at the same time, the pressure on chambers 14 and13 being reduced by the tall of the head of water over them, a certainamount of gas will bubble up through the pipes 17 and 17 a into chamber15 to be withdrawn through the pipe 20. As soon as the pressure in pipe23 has Jfallen to the predetermined pressure, then back pressureregulator R4 opens a'nd'gas will commence to pass out through pipe 19from chamber 14; and' will continue to do so until all of the gas hasbeen withdrawn from chamber 14 and a certain amount of gas has bubbledup through pipe 17 from the chamber 13, as the pressure on gas inchamber 13 is reduced by the tall of water head above it. Then the backpressure regulator R3 will open and gas will then be withdrawn :trom thechamber 13 until all the gas is taken out and the water has fallen tothe level L. l

In order to get rid of the air that stands above the water level in thetwo chambers 14 and 15,'air outlet valves are provided at A* and A2,these valves being controlled by floats F1 and F2, at the upper ends ofthe standpipes 17a and 17 b. The air valves communicate with the twochambers 14` and 15 at their tops; and the floats F1 and F2' are set ator near the tops of the chambers, so

that the floats .will keep the air valves A1 and A2 open at all timesexcept when the Water level is at or above the respective iioats. F orinstance, as chamber 13 is being filled with gas and the Water level inchamber let is being raised, the valve A1 will be open until the Waterlevel reaches approximately the top of the chamber; and then float F1Will rise, closing the valve A1, before gas begins to bubble up intochamber 14. Similar action takes place as the Water level rises inchamber 15. Reversely, when the holder` is being emptied, as soon as thelevel falls to or below these respective floats, their respective airvalves Will be opened to allow air to enter the chambers to relieve thepartial vacuum that would otherwise be formed: Y It Will be seen fromthis description that one body of Water serves a number of gas chambers.Consequently the size and cost of a holder for holding any givenquantity of gas is very greatly reduced, as the capacity of the Waterchamber needs only be a fraction of the capacity of the gas chamber.This, feature, of a single Water body, is the u primary feature of thisinvention, and it Will. be understood that my description here `is onlya typical form of apparatus embody ing the invention; and that theinvention is not to be restricted to the details herein set forth exceptas specifically so stated in the following claims. F or variousmodifications may be made; for instance, the arrangement of piping andvalves may be easily modified and still accomplish the same results.

Having described a preferred form of my invention, I claim:

1. A gas holder of the Water displacement type, characterized by aplurality of gas chambers and a Water chamber, each'chamber having Waterpassage communication leading from the bottom of one to the bottom ofanother chamber.

2. A gas holder of the Water displacement type, characterized by aplurality of gas chambers and a Water chamber, each chamber having Waterpassage communication leading from the bottom of one to the bottom ofanother chamber, the Water chamber being above all the gas chambers.

3. A gas holder of the Water displacement type, characterized by aplurality of gas chambers and a Water chamber, the gas chambers beingarranged at successively higher levels and the Water chamber at a levelabove the highest gas chamber, each except one of the gas chambershaving Water passage communication from its bottom to the bottom of thegas chamber next above, and said above excepted chamber having Waterpassage communication from its bottom to the bottom of the Waterchamber.

4. The device of claim 3, further characterized by a gas inletcommunicating with the lOWermost gas chamber and a gas outletcommunicating With each chamber.

5. A gas holder of the Water displacement type, characterized by aplurality of gas chambers and a Water chamber, each chamber having Waterpassage communication leading from the bottom of one to the bottom ofanother chamber; an atmospheric communication at the tops 0f some of thegas chambers, and means operable by virtue of the changing Water levelin those chambers to open and close the communication.

6. A gas holder of the water displacement type, characterized by aplurality of gas chambers and a Water chamber, the gas chambers beingarranged at successively higher levels and the Water chamber at a levelabove the highest gas chamber, each except one of the gas chambershaving Water passage communication from its bottom to the bottom of thegas chamber next above, and said above excepted chamber having Waterpassage communication from its bottom to the bottom of the Waterchamber; an atmospheric communication in each of the gas chambers exceptthe lovvermost chamber, and means operable by virtue of the changingWater level in those chambers to open and close the communication.

In Witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my namethis th day of November 1921.

' ARTHUR F. BRIDGE. Witness:

VIRGINIA BERINGER.

